Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/439940
E ExEcuTivE INTERVIEw www.vanguardcanada.com DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 31 the federal government and other stake- holders. We spent a lot of time going to events, giving presentations, inviting peo- ple in to have a look at the yard. When we had the floating out ceremony of the Cecon Pride last year, we invited a lot of folks to see the transformation; when many had last seen the yard, it was in disrepair, those ships were just left in blocks and units in various states of incompletion, and some people thought the vessels would never actually be built, never mind ever going to sea. We also had to re-establish our credibil- ity with the workforce, prove to them that we were serious about doing business in a better way, that we had a long-term com- mitment to the shipyard, and that we were going to make investments in them and in the shipyard. We were fortunate that the recall list was fairly large, but a lot of it was workers talking amongst themselves in the community – "Davie is real, it's back." There is nothing like proof, and when we delivered the Cecon vessel, I think that was the biggest proof possible because people could see it was one of the most complex vessels ever built in North America and it was done right in their own backyard. As Canadians we don't tend to pat ourselves on the back, but they could see that, yes, we went through a difficult period, but we picked up the pieces and we delivered in a really efficient manner and with the best possible result – the vessel went to work two days after it arrived in the North Sea. That's almost unheard of. We're now work- ing on ship two and hope to have that out around the same time in 2015. Q Does the fact that these are complex builds and you are reacquiring your workforce leave you with a skills gap? How are you approaching training? I think you always have a skills gap, if com- panies are honest. They are always work- ing to address a skills gap because there are always new procedures and processes. For example, there is a new welding standard that has been implemented by the class so- cieties, so we have to have all of our people re-certified and building to the highest standards. Another is pre-outfitting, which is very important in shipbuilding: how much of the ship can you build under cover before you take it out to get welded together? So we are constantly coming up with new ways to pre-outfit a higher percentage of the ship. At Best Defence in October, we met with a number of suppliers to look at what they are doing in the aircraft and vehicle industries. In the aircraft indus- try, they are doing pre-wiring from stem to stern whereas we do it in fairly iso- lated areas. So we are going to carry on discussions to learn how we can harness their innovation so that our vessels will be even more highly pre-outfitted and "inter- connectable" when we bring them out as blocks and units. We have also been working with the class societies, which tell you what you can and can't connect. But if we both understand the realm of the possible, there will be huge improvements and reduction in pro- duction costs. Q Is that sparking new innovations? I won't say shipyards are slow to innovate, but in shipbuilding you can't just take a step and say, "I think this is the best way to do something, I'm going to go ahead and use this welding procedure." There are certain standards and safety requirements that you have to meet. For example, when we first approached Transport Canada about building LNG ferries, they were ap- plying offshore rig rules and regulations to a passenger vessel. We had to work out what rules we could and couldn't apply before we finished the engineering and we had to ask for certain rules to be con- sidered as equivalent for these passenger vessels in order to even build in Canada. And we had to come up with some in- novative solutions for how we install the tanks, where they can be welded, what zones need to be classified as hazardous. So we adopted some innovative ideas from North Sea passenger ships. We don't know the end result of those as some things are still being implemented and we are work- ing closely with the class societies to safely meet their high standards. In the yard, we are looking at where we can maximize the use of robotics, espe- cially robotic welding; the use of lighter materials such as composites instead of steel or even aluminum; and how we can pre-outfit modules in the shipyard such as fully completed accommodation modules. Q Where are you looking for that inno- vation? Does the NSPS and the Defence Procurement Strategy put a premium on home-grown? One of the focuses of the company is to use as much Canadian content as possible. That makes good business sense but we